Browns: Norv Turner preaches eliminating turnovers

Maribeth Joeright/MJoeright@News-Herald.com
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden coughs up the football after being hit by Steelers' Troy Polamalu in the third quarter, Sunday, at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Steelers recovered the ball.

The game plan for the Browns today was easy for players to understand, though based on the first 11 games, it might be much more difficult to execute.
If they can hold onto the ball on offense and the Browns’ defense can take it away from the Jaguars, the ending at FirstEnergy Stadium should be a happy one.
The Browns lost back-to-back games in Cincinnati and at home to Pittsburgh to fall into the AFC North basement. They turned the ball over four times in each game. They took it away twice in Cincinnati and had zero takeaways against the Steelers.
“Here’s what I’ll say,” offensive coordinator Norv Turner said on Friday. “The No. 1 thing we have to do as an offensive group is eliminate the turnovers. If we protect the football — we’ve said it all along — when we’ve played our best, we’ve won the turnover battle and we’ve not had very many turnovers.
“During that three-game win streak, we did a great job of protecting the ball (four turnovers vs. Minnesota but none vs. the Bengals and Bills). Obviously in the Kansas City game and the week after against Baltimore when we played at a nice level, Jason Campbell did a great job of protecting the ball (zero interceptions). We haven’t done that the last two weeks, and that’s a major emphasis.”
Brandon Weeden is starting at quarterback today because Campbell is home recovering from a concussion suffered last week. He is responsible for eight of the 20 Browns’ turnovers with seven interceptions thrown and one lost fumble.
The defense ranks fourth overall, but only five teams have fewer takeaways than the Browns — the Falcons, (2-9), Texans (2-9), Jets (5-6) with eight each, the Chargers (5-6) with nine and the Packers (5-6-1) with 10 have fewer takeaways than the Browns with 13. None of the teams with fewer currently has a playoff spot.
The Jaguars also have 13 takeaways, but they have one less turnover. The Jags, 2-9, have won two of their last three games. They won at Tennessee and at Houston. The Browns are 3-3 in FirstEnergy Stadium.
“Definitely one of our points of emphasis this week was turnovers,” defensive coordinator Ray Horton said. “They help whichever team wins. The one statistic year in and year out that helps a team get to the playoffs is turnover ratio. That involves the offense, the defense and the special teams.”
Focus on holding onto the ball or taking it away goes to specific players.
Joe Haden intercepted two passes in Cincinnati. He says interceptions come in bunches when they start.
Running back Chris Ogbonnaya lost a fumble in Cincinnati that the Bengals returned for a touchdown. He lost one the Steelers turned into a field goal to give the Steelers a 13-3 lead.
Ogbonnaya will probably be a focus of the run offense again today because Willis McGahee is averaging 2.6 yards a carry.
“I’m not picking on anybody; I’m just explaining what happened,” Turner said referring to Ogbonnaya’s fumble. “Our best drive started and we gained eight yards on first down and everyone in this league knows when (Steelers safety) Troy (Polamalu) gets around you, he’s going to rip and pull the ball out; you can’t let him pull the ball out. We’re going to be second-and-2 on the 46-yard line on their side of the field and the game was still manageable.
“Obviously, when you’re playing a blitz team, you’ve got to handle the blitz. We didn’t do that on the two most critical turnovers.”
Turner’s second reference was to the blitz by cornerback William Gay resulting in Campbell being injured and a blitz of Weeden resulting in an interception Gay returned 21 yards for a touchdown.